jrebman's iFi Micro iDSD Black Label Review (photo's by Pez)

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jrebman

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Hello AC folks. It has been a while since I've been active on AC -- and that's related to what I want to talk about today... I have a number of chronic health conditions and often find myself in bed or sitting in my recliner when I can't really do much else. So, being a music lover, it started to really get to me that I really had no way to listen except through my main system downstairs in my office/listening room. So, I need some quality music to help keep me sane, keep the blood pressure low, and lots of other benefits.



In the past I had some really great luck with iFi products, so I turned to them again. This time, the Micro iDSD DAC/headphone amp was just about to be upgraded to the "Black Label" version (which I'll simply call the "BL" from here on.) The older version is basically the same in outside appearances, but has the more familiar silver enclosure (which I'll just call, "Silver" from now on.) Aside from the obvious external color differences, there have been a lot of very positive changes to the internals as well.

Ok, time for some caveats: first, the usual... these are my opinions, based on listening time spent with both, as well as two sets of IEMs -- the Sure SE-425 (recabled with Lune silver cable), and the new 1More Triple Drivers. These are also my ears and my musical sensibilities (these days I find myself listening mostly to classical, 50s/60s jazz, and acoustic musics of all kinds, including a lot of world musics. The point, these days, is mostly to relax, and to do that, I really need to be fully immersed in the music. Also, there are a couple of other caveats worth mentioning... I got the Black Label after it had already been with one reviewer (Thank you, Tyson!), and bought the Silver new from Music direct for this comparison. The Black had over 500 hours of playtime on it before I got it, and the Silver was brand new, so I did what I could and was able to put about50 hours of playtime on it. If there are places in the review where I think a particular aspect of the sound may have benefited from more play time, I will denote that with an asterisk (*).

There is also another important distinction between the two reviews that apply to different audiences. Tyson did a great job with his review, but his focus was on using the iFi pieces as a dedicated DAC for his main system, and I think he did a great job of that, so this is not stepping on any toes. My perspective is to look at and test these devices strictly from the point-of-view that I intend to use them exclusively as DAC/Headphone amp, and mostly with the two IEMs I listed above. The conclusions I take from my testing are probably going to be different from Tyson's, and mostly because of the intended use.

In my case, the source device is either an iPad Mini 4 w/128gb memory, and an iPod Touch, also with 128 gb of memory., and connected to the Black or Silver via the Apple camera connnection kit. Playback software was Tidal, Onkyo's HF Player, and most recently, KaiserTone.

I dropped Tidal pretty quickly as the interface was extremely difficult to use with VoiceOver -- the built-in speech synthesizer for the iOS (and MacOS) that allows blind people to use the iOS device without sight. (Yes, I am totally blind.) The next round of testing was done with the Onkyo HF Player. This too has some very big accessibility problems with VO as well, so I set out to find another music player that would do a quality job and handle DSD should I ever decide to go that route. So now, I have my iPad connected to the Black via the included USB cable and... wait... I can't plug any of my IEMs or headphones into the Black. What gives? Well, up until a day or so ago, I had been using the TRS to 3.5mm adaptor that came with the Silver. When I sold the Silver to a friend, I used the one included with the Black. Unfortunately, something about the Black's adaptor would not let me connect any 3.5 mm connectors (all of my IEMs and headphones.) Now I'm waiting for a replacement so I can finish thee listening tests. I was able to experiment with KaiserTone's settings using my standard daily headphones plugged directly into the iPad.

I think a quick tour of the devices is in order so folks have some idea of what I'm talking about:




I'll start with the front panel -- this has the on/off/volume knob to the far right, the 3-D enhancement switch just to the left of that, followed by a 3.5mm analog input should you want to use the device as a preamp.






Going clockwise around the device with the top facing up, there are 3 small slide switches -- the first is the filter mode (3 for PCM and 3 for DSD), then a 2-position polarity switch (far more important than you may think), and finally, a 3-position switch for the power mode --"turbo" towards the front of the unit, "normal" in the middle and "Eco" towards the rear. These settings roughly correspond to something like HD-600s or any other difficult to drive headphones, Normal for typical headphones (whatever those are) and Eco for very sensitive headphones and IEMs. Further to that, there is a built-in IEMatch circuit for fine tuning your IEMs. Off/sensitive/ and Ultra Sensitive for very efficient IEMs. This, with the power mode switch and yes, even the polarity switch can really change the presentation of the IEMs. Caution: switching the wrong switch while the IEMs are bing worn can result in a blast of sound that could potentially hurt you, so please be careful as you experiment with these settings.



Now, on the back you will see 3 RCA jacks all the way to the left, and then a special USB connector (OTG for Android) where signal goes in to the DAC. Next to the left, the two RCAs are for audio out, and the third RCA is a combination coax spdif and optical in (with included adaptor.) I've never used any of the RCA connections, so I can't tell you how well they behave or what kind of sound quality you can expect from each one.



Finally, on the right side (as you look at the unit from the front) there is a single USB port -- this is a convenience charging port for recharging your iPhone/Pod/Pad. Then the last thing is a preamp/direct mode switch on the bottom located just behind the analog RCA outs (ins?) I leave mine in direct as I never use this unit as a preamp.

I also want to mention that this device can do several things, not just work as a DAC or DAC/ Headphone amp: it can charge another device, it can run off it's internal batteries only and not draw from the host device, It can work as an analog preamp, and it can even be used as a USB to spdif converter. Unfortunately, currently most of these features are not documented in any one place (iFi recognizes this and will be fixing this documentation shortcoming.
Without getting into the listening tests quite yet, it would be good to summarize what's in these things and where the differences under the hood are (those that iFi is talking about:

Both machines have the same Burr-Brown chipseet that was their last project before becoming RCA. This chip can do native DSD/DXD with no conversion (there are very few of these anywhere), a nice clock, a very nice analog section (IEMatch, volume, X-bass and X-3d are all in the analog domain.) The differences between the two units (although these are not all of them) is that the Black has a new and better internal PCB layout, better (Panasonic OSCON) capacitors for the power supplies, and significantly upgraded op amps for the headphone output. The Black also has a more refined Femto clock. I'm sure there are other differences, but
 these are the ones I think most people will find interesting as they truly impact the sound, and in some not so very subtle ways.)
The basic character of each is a smoothness (though the Silver was not quite as smooth in the top end and lower mids than it could be *, and as I said, I got the Black with over 500 hours of playtime on it, so everything was well settled in.
I found the initial sound of the Silver to have a bit of a lumpy response, but that did improve as it got more playtime, and the high end also filled in and became a bit more extended with time. If I had 500 hours to do the same level of break-in as the Black, I'm sure I would have heard something much more resembling Tyson's findings. In a nutshell, Tyson is a "tone" listener" and for his system and his preferences, the Silver, as a DAC only in his main system and with far more play time, found things to be more mature and more satisfying overall. As I said, I did not listen in this mode, so I really can't comment. In other words, I'm using the DAC and headphone together, so it's hard to separate the contributions of each. Overall, I think this, especially with some more break-in time would make a nice headphone amp, especially for cans that are a bit on the warmish side and need a little sparkle added to the presentation -- or many people will be looking for this kind of sonic signature, so if that's what you're after, the Silver's your baby.

Ok, now to the Black. Wow, I was compleetely taken aback when I first heard this amp. I was listening to the Grisman/Garcia/Rice "Pizza Tapes", and right away, a clarity and balance, along with some great tone and dynamics, just struck me. The harmonic development -- both positive and negative dynamics all just had me spellbound. Then... Tony Rice strummed his guitar, and every single string stood out in it's own space -- like each string was it's own instrument. Again, near-perfect harmonic development, very fast initial transient, and beautiful decay. Voices were wonderful and full, but not throaty or chesty, just nicely balanced and present in the correct proportions. Timing was superb -- between the upgraded Femto clock and the super fast initial transients, was simply fantastic.
It is also necessary to point out things like self-noise, which are very important to me, and maybe not as much to others, but I feel that they are both tops in this area, maybe with a slight edge going to the Black, though nothing to get excited about. I should also say that the Black, in Eco mode, and the IEMatch set to medium, my Shure's were far more quiet than on any other headphone amp I've ever tried. These are very quiet amps, which is a real boon to IEM users.
So, the sound of the two devicces is different to be sure, and I wish I had a fully broken-in Silver to do all the listening tests with again, but I don't so like me, you'll just have to do some interpolation -- knowing that they are both excellent pieces and whose sonic signature would appeal to a wide variety of listeners. If the Silver was a dud, it certainly would not have come as far as it did, and may not have warranted such a major overhaul to it's innards. When it comes to DAC/headphone amps taken as a whole unit, I have to place my vote for the Black -- to me, and with my IEMs/cans, the Black just does it for me and leaves me wanting for nothing. As a DAC/headphone amp, the Silver, while a fully competent audio device, just doesn't have the sonic signature that I am looking for. Advice: if you can, get both and try them in headphone mode, then in DAC-only mode and I believe most folks will come to similar conclusions.
So, iFi does it again -- a top-notch piece of audio gear, in a real-world, mostly portable package, with sonics to rival many of the much larger and much more expensive alternatives.



If I were buying the piece to use strictly as a DAC in a main system, I'd probably follow Tyson's advice and go with the Silver, but if headphone listening is your thing, I wouldn't hesitate to go for the Black -- at $50 more, it's a steal.

Anyway, I do hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed the testing.

Now, back to the opening lines: The reason that I got back to write this summary is because, as I mentioned, I have a number of chronic healthconditions (no pity parties, please) and I was really desperate to have some quality music when I can't get down to my listening room and enjoy the big system. The iFi Micro iDSDs fill that bill and then some. So, the little black box with the Orange writing sits on the corner of my nightstand where I can reach the controls, and also the Ipad/Pod next to it.

Welcome to AC, iFi -- may you have a successful presence on AC!
« Last Edit: 9 Feb 2017, 05:11 pm by jrebman »

Pez

Re: jrebman's iFi iTube2 Review (photo's by Pez)
« Reply #1 on: 8 Feb 2017, 09:07 pm »
Folks, full disclosure: I took the photos for Jim's review. I did not work with him on the content, nor did I edit etc anything he wrote.   :thumb:

Art_Chicago

Re: jrebman's iFi iTube2 Review (photo's by Pez)
« Reply #2 on: 8 Feb 2017, 09:27 pm »
now i am confused-- This black unit is DAC, and not iTube, correct?

Nice review though!

Pez

Re: jrebman's iFi iTube2 Review (photo's by Pez)
« Reply #3 on: 8 Feb 2017, 09:35 pm »
This is what happens when you try to do too many things at once! Modified, yes this is a review for the micro iDSD black label.  :thumb:

Thank you

mcgsxr

Appreciate your taking the time to post up your impressions jgrebman.  And good seeing you back around here.

Glad iFi is helping bring you the music too!

Tyson

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  • Audio - It's all a big fake.
Nice review Jim!  I agree with you 100% - the Black pretty much crushes the Silver when it comes to headphone and IEM listening. 

jrebman

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Folks, (especially Pez for the pics!)... this has been a blast -- getting to write up a little comparison of two very competent DAC/Headphone amps from a company who has never let me down, or more accurately, always gave me lots of quality music at a fair price and in a manageable size for portability.

Thanks as well for the nice comments -- I do really appreciate them!

My only regret is that I didn't have more time to evaluate, especially get plenty more break-in time on the Silver (but it's with it's new owner now, so the opportunity is no longer there.

As for seeing more of me around these parts... well, that all depends on health and a million other factors, but I will endeavor to be more present here in the future.

Thanks again, everybody!

-- Jim


jrebman

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Now that I've lived with the iDSD Black Label for a while and have learned some more about what it can do, I thought I'd put that information out there for people like myself who don't (or sometimes, can't) read manuals. This unit is even more felxible and ubiquitous than I already thought.

For instance, do you know that the Apple Camera Connection Kit can plug directly into the USB port? What this means is that you can strap an iPod or iPhone on the unit and plug the CCK directly into it? Then you have yourself one fantastic, portable device. This was not a fluke but a deliberate design decision by the iFi engineers.

Diid you also know that the analog (RCA) outputs are always "live" In direct mode they output a fixed, line level signal, and when the unit is switched to preamp mode, the volume control controls the output signal. Pretty cool for use as a portable source, and something I will be using myself (already using the direct CCK connection from an iPod 5g) This feature let me bypass a need for a separate streaming audio device (Raspberry Pie, etc.) to feed our small living room background music system.. The spdif output is also always "live" and can accept either a coax or optical input, though I'm still not sure if the optical is available as an output. I use this for a quick and easy to setup, source for the DAC in my main system as I get my NAS and micro Rendu and minim server and streamer setup. A really nice thing to have, and could obviously be used on a full-time basis as well.

Playback can be done either with your choice of apps that read music files from the internal memory of the IOS device, or via an app that reads and plays a DNLA/UPNP stream from a NAS.

So, if all this is obvious to you, that's great, but somehow I missed some of these features, especially the direct IOS connection, which makes the other features far more useful to me -- so more than a portable listening setup, it is a very flexible portable analog and digital source. All of this has been confirmed by Pez and Tyson (so it must be true :-)!)

Love this thing more and more every day (and it is well seasoned by now.) As a side note, it is the first headphone amp, at any price point, that I've owned that is absolutely quiet with IEMs -- it seemed that I could never quite get rid of at least some background noise, however slight, when listening with IEMs.

If you don't have one, go out and get one... now! It is worth more than it's $550 price tag, and the music is just so sweet and you really can't put a price tag on that.

Lovin' it!

-- Jim